Wednesday, April 15, 2026

Naides Restaurant- Filipino Upscale Restaurant- An Update

This place is on My Bucket List

Review from the San Francisco Chronicle: Restaurant Naides took over the former Sons & Daughters space, reimagining Filipino classics using fine dining techniques typically associated with European cooking. It's still somewhat early days, but both their $209, 11 to 13-course menu and the service are already primed for a special occasion.

Our favorites so far are the duck thigh and meatball course with pineapple sabayon, and a pandesal brioche loaf paired with a sisig-inspired chicken liver mousse. (Thankfully, in an effort to cut down on waste, the menu isn’t expected to change often, so there's a good chance you'll see these favorites, too.)

Expect to be greeted by name and have your jackets whisked away, right before the three chefs cooking shoulder-to-shoulder introduce themselves and hand off a fluffy one-biter buto topped with pork rillette to start the night.

From the Website of Restaurant Naides

San Francisco, CA · Filipino · $$$

A modern interpretation of Filipino cuisine - grounded in heritage, enriched by global influences, and shaped by the craft of preservation and fermentation expressed through 11-13 unique servings.

Set in an intimate dining room with the kitchen positioned in the center, our guests are enveloped in a warm, inviting ambiance that enhances the overall dining experience.

Tasting Menu-Key Tasting Menu Highlights
Filipino Street Food Bites: Opening bites often include a refined lumpia and an okoy fritter made with prawn tartare.
Signature Dishes: Highlights include a complex bagoong (fermented shrimp paste) dish with vegetables, kinilaw (cured trout), and a notable abalone sinigang.
Bread Course: A standout, "life-changing" pandesal (Filipino brioche) is served with chicken liver mousse and sisig, notes The Infatuation and 7x7 Bay Area.
Main Course: A week-marinated dry-aged adobo duck breast.
Desserts: Filipino-focused sweets feature pili nuts, calamansi brulee, and toasted rice ice cream.
Pairings: Wine pairings or a creative nonalcoholic pairing option featuring house-made beverages are available

- The Restaurant Naides tasting experience described in
  the San Francisco Chronicle is not just a meal, it is a narrative told in 11 to 13
  carefully orchestrated courses, priced around $205–$209 per person plus
  a 20% service charge.
  The Menu — A Love Letter to Filipino Flavors
  At its heart, the menu is deeply Filipino-but expressed through the
  language of
  Michelin-level technique.
  
  Opening Sequence (Street Food Reimagined):
  A delicate reinterpretation of lumpia-not a fried roll, but a crisp
  tuile with banana miso and fruit
  Okoy (fritter) layered with prawn tartare and pickled roses
  Puto elevated with pork rillette and tart foraged berries
  
  Sea & Acid — The Filipino Soul:
  Kinilaw (Filipino ceviche) with fermented coconut elements
  Sinigang transformed into a refined broth, sometimes featuring
  abalone instead of pork or shrimp
  
  Land & Fire — Street Meets Luxury:
  Duck served in dual forms inspired by tusok-tusok street skewers
  Dishes incorporating bagoong (fermented shrimp paste), pineapple,
  and smoky grilled elements
  
  Signature Ingredients Spotlighted:
  Calamansi
  Pili nuts (featured in a dessert tartlet inspired by Jollibee’s
  peach-mango pie)
  
  Dessert — A Cultural Surprise:
  A final course built around a quintessential Filipino ingredient-presented
  in a way that feels luxurious and unexpected
  
  Beverage Program:
  Inventive non-alcoholic pairings like fermented fruit drinks and
  coconut-based infusions, reflecting Filipino preservation traditions
  
  Short Video:
  https://www.tiktok.com/@infatuation_sf/video/7584988039915588895?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc
  
  Meanwhile, here's additional information on Filipino Restaurants in California
  
  Meanwhile, here are some of the most underrated Filipino dishes:
  Hearty Dishes
  Kare-Kare: A rich stew made with vegetables and meat or seafood in a
  peanut-based sauce, often served during festivities.
  Arroz Caldo: A comforting rice porridge with chicken, ginger, and garlic,
  perfect for breakfast or as a comfort food.
  Dinuguan: A savory stew made with pork or other meats cooked in blood
  and vinegar, often served with steamed rice.
  Seafood Delights
  Kinilaw: A Filipino-style ceviche made with raw fish or meat marinated
  in coconut vinegar, often mixed with aromatics and fruits.
  Tamilok: A type of woodworm that's eaten raw or cooked, often served
  with vinegar and chili.
  Ginataang Sugpo: Prawns cooked in coconut milk, a creamy and
  flavorful dish.
  Street Food and Snacks
  Lumpia: Deep-fried or fresh spring rolls filled with meat or vegetables,
  often served as a snack or appetizer.
  Okoy: Crispy shrimp fritters made with a pancake-like batter, often served
  with a sweet and sour sauce.
  Balut: A popular street food that's a developing duck embryo boiled and
  eaten from the shell.
  Other Underrated Dishes
  Ginataang Kuhol: A snail stew cooked in coconut milk with spices and
  aromatics.
  Sisig: A dish made with chopped pork's head, served with vinegar, salt,
  and chili, often paired with a raw egg.
  Bistek: A beef dish marinated with calamansi, soy, and onions, often
  served with steamed rice.
  
  Personal Update: Grand daughter Alix Katague Quinn wrote me
  the other day, she was lucky to get reservation at the Naides
  restaurant recently. She was impressed with the food and told me
  she will try to get reservation before our coming Birthdays this
  December. Alix and I have the same birthday date of December 20,
  but only 60 years apart.

Highlights of My Professional Career

In my more than 40 years of professional career, I have experienced both working rank and file, as well as supervising the work of subordinates. I have worked in four private firms and the Federal Government, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), where I retired. I enjoyed the challenges and difficulties of both types of job situations. This is the highlights of my work experience story.

My first job after completing my doctorate degree was a Chemist for Chemagro Corporation in Kansas City, Missouri. It was a subsidiary of Bayer Corporation, a German conglomerate. I worked for the analytical chemistry department comprised of about fifty people; half that number was either chemists or biologists. My specific task was to develop analytical methods for the detection of pesticide residues in plant and animal tissues. I worked on my own, similar to six other bench chemists, and we all reported to the same supervisor.

The firm sponsored my visa conversion from a student to a permanent resident, and I was able to legally work and reside in the United States with my family. The company generously took care of its employees. At the end of each successful year, everyone received a 13th month salary bonus. The employees and their families celebrated wonderful annual Christmas parties in a downtown Kansas City hotel, with dancing and free drinks for the whole night.

Inasmuch as I enjoyed and loved working for Chemagro for five years, I found a new job which offered a substantially higher pay. Due to my exemplary work performance, my supervisor preferred and lobbied for me to stay with the company. I had to turn him down because they could not match the package presented by my new employer. It was also a chance for me and my family to move and live in the US west coast, where the mild winter climate is bearable compared to the Midwest.

My next job was at the agricultural research division of Shell Development Company in Modesto, California. I was a Research Chemist, and again I worked individually, same as five other chemists who all reported to a supervisor. My specific duty was similar to my previous job. I worked for them for five years, until the company decided to get out of the pesticide business. They closed their research facility affecting the jobs of more than 200 employees.

My third industrial job was with the agricultural research division of Stauffer chemical company, located in Richmond, California. I was a Senior Research Chemist doing the same project as my two previous jobs. I worked for twelve continuous years for the company, with outstanding annual job performance. I became a Principal Research Chemist, the highest attainable non-supervisory position.

One day in 1986, my supervisor informed me that my job had been eliminated, and I had one day to vacate the facility. It was the most dreadful lay off experience in my life. I felt anger, sadness and humiliation to be dismissed from work with one day notice, after all the years of hard work invested for the company. This was an unforgettable incident and was the gloomiest point in my professional career.
The company terminated sixty research employees, who were upset of the bad news.

One of the chemists was distressed and expressed his outrageous anger by threatening the company and its workers. He told his supervisor of his intention to bomb and burn down the laboratory. He was immediately escorted by the security staff out of the building and into his car. He was informed to leave behind his personal belongings; they will be mailed to his residence. He was warned never to show up again near the company premises or risk getting arrested.

My supervisor was kind and allowed me to take my time to pack up my belongings. It took me two days to clear up my workplace, after toiling for a long period in the same jobsite. We were provided clerical help and office space, in preparation to look for another job, such as updating our resumes, and using the computer and copy machine. We were given six weeks of separation pay plus benefits.

Fortunately, with the help of a friend who is a Church parishioner, I found another job thirty days after leaving Stauffer chemical company. He hired me as a senior research chemist and as a group leader with two technicians to supervise. It was in the same field as my expertise in my previous three jobs spanning the last twenty one years. My new employer was Chevron Chemical Company, and which was located in the same area as my former employer.

This job gave me the introduction and basic knowledge of managing the work of subordinates. I worked for Chevron Company for four and a half years. The company decided to consolidate their research facilities in Texas, and lay off all its research employees. This time I had enough distress and agony from working, and eventually getting laid off from several private companies. To avoid going through any more miserable layoffs, I made a vow that I would never again work for a private company.

In my work experiences, there were noticeable and unavoidable jobsite occurrences. One can never miss the office romantic relationships between co-workers, both illicit and permitted. Though it was frowned upon, there was a boss and staff relationship, which was used as a ploy to get ahead in the company. Some relationships had chemistry, no pun intended, but some never worked out. Oftentimes, there was a sense of distrust among bench chemists for some workers who unjustly obtained preferred work assignments.

Some employees resorted to bribing superiors to get special privileges, such as being able to attend choice conferences and meetings in exciting venues or locations. Likewise, politics was always present at the worksites. It was during an era when various forms of harassment, equal opportunity and discrimination laws were not yet enforced in the workplace. Occasionally, an unexpected chemical explosion happens in a laboratory setting, where luckily no one got seriously hurt.

In the three private companies I worked for, I was able to publish scientific journals for some of the research studies and analytical methods which I developed for the respective companies of Chemagro, Shell Development and Stauffer.

After deciding and making a vow to avoid working in the private sector, I made my new goal which was either to work for the state of California, or the Federal government in Washington, D.C. Four months after I lost my job in Chevron, I was lucky and joyful to be hired by the Food and Drug Administration as a review chemist in the fall of 1990.

In 1994 I was promoted as an Expert Research Chemist with a GS-14 rating. My expertise was on Anti-malarial and Anti-parasitic drug products. In 1997, I was again deservingly promoted to Chemistry team leader, supervising the work of six Chemistry reviewers including five with doctorate degrees.

As team leader, I was responsible for prioritizing, assigning, and assuring the technical accuracy of all chemistry, manufacturing and control issues for all new drug applications submitted to the Division of Anti-Infective Drug Products, Center of New Drugs.

It was part of my responsibility to give advice, instruct and promote high morale and teamwork in my group. My work in the FDA is confidential, until the drug patent on the products I worked on has expired. There are manufacturing supplements that I have approved that are now open for the public in the Internet.

In 1998, I won the Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Award. The citation reads, “For outstanding accomplishments in fostering the objectives of the EEO Program by hiring minorities and encouraging their professional growth while providing excellent leadership.” I have received numerous certificates of appreciation, awards in leadership and communications, commendation for teamwork and excellence in the accomplishment of the FDA mission. I have also received several letters of appreciation from private industry for my review work.

There are many good things working as rank and file while enjoying doing one’s job individually. It is a humbling, satisfying and productive experience, if one can work in harmony with one’s immediate supervisor. Working individually develops one’s skills in goal setting and scheduling. But in general, the financial rewards are less than a person who has supervisory responsibilities.

Managing the work of others has its challenges. Moreover, it develops one’s skill in handling and developing people, and the compensation rewards and benefits are better. Due to additional duties, responsibilities and leadership, supervisory work can be more stressful than working as a subordinate. However, supervisory jobs give one more personal growth and satisfaction, based on my personal experience. My work in FDA as a team leader managing the work of six scientists had been the happiest and rewarding work experience in my career in Chemistry. You might also like:

Wednesday, April 15, 2026

Naides Restaurant- Filipino Upscale Restaurant- An Update

From the Website of Restaurant Naides

The Restaurant Naides tasting experience described in
the San Francisco Chronicle is not just a meal, it is a narrative told in 11 to 13
carefully orchestrated courses, priced around $205–$209 per person plus
a 20% service charge.

The Menu — A Love Letter to Filipino Flavors

Linkwithin

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Wednesday, April 15, 2026

Naides Restaurant- Filipino Upscale Restaurant- An Update

From the Website of Restaurant Naides

The Restaurant Naides tasting experience described in the San Francisco Chronicle is not just a meal, it is a narrative told in 11 to 13 carefully orchestrated courses, priced around $205–$209 per person plus a 20% service charge.

The Menu — A Love Letter to Filipino Flavors

Linkwithin

The Restaurant Naides tasting experience described in
the San Francisco Chronicle is not just a meal, it is a narrative told in 11 to 13
carefully orchestrated courses, priced around $205–$209 per person plus
a 20% service charge.